Hightower will not be given the tag, now a free agent

[Love The Drake]

I cant pay Donta like hes Von Miller or Luke Kuechly hes not.
He is a great player but I think he may have some Adalius Thomas syndrome once he gets his monster pay day.
Id give Zach Brown half of that and not lose any sleep.
He made two monster plays in both our Superbowl wins but the fact he wasnt at the parade to support his team and brothers tells me all I need to know.
Imagine Willie or Mayo missing a parade they wouldnt.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Butler will be treated no different than Hightower. He will be paid the minimum
possible amount. The Patriots are probably debating whether they can get away
with a second round tender. Don't be surprised if they lose him.

Don't be surprised if Atlanta or Green Bay don't grab him even with a first round tender. He is easily worth the 30 or 31st pick in the draft.

 

[luuked]

So they traded Jones because they couldn't afford to pay him, Collins, and Hightower, now it looks like they are going to end up with a late 2nd round pick and two late third round comp picks for three Pro Bowlers. And a giant hole in the defense!

They traded Jones because he is not worth the money he is getting. This has nothing to do with not being able to pay someone but with there being no value to pay him more than his rookie contract.

Collins chose his own destiny by being a whiny turd.

 

[livinginthe past]

I did think losing HT was a real possibility.

It's great that he made 2 such high profile plays for us in Superbowls - like it or not, Bill has never paid a guy for what they did in the past.

His snap total is kinda low for the sort of money that he seems to think he can (and probably will) get. They spent a lot of time managing various ailments over the last few years (Reiss has the snap % on a recent blog post).

Love HT and what he brought to the team - but he is likely going to be offered a number that the Patriots don't want to match.

I was also underwhelmed (as were others) by his impact during the regular season - this kinda gets swept under the rug after the big play in the Superbowl.

Either way, i'm cool with whatever Bill decides.

 

[chasa]

i love hightower, he helped bring in two rings, but he deserves a top tier contract.

plain and simple guys gotta get his money now while the getting is good. he achieved what he needed to, now he needs to get paid.

 

[luuked]

I cant pay Donta like hes Von Miller or Luke Kuechly hes not.
He is a great player but I think he may have some Adalius Thomas syndrome once he gets his monster pay day.
Id give Zach Brown half of that and not lose any sleep.
He made two monster plays in both our Superbowl wins but the fact he wasnt at the parade to support his team and brothers tells me all I need to know.
Imagine Willie or Mayo missing a parade they wouldnt.

Yeah **** him and all his contributions because he isn't at a ****ing parade. Who gives a ****.

So you think he can pretend for five years inside the building, through practices and games to be an immense leader and make BB buy into that - but not showing up to stand around on a ****ing duck boat to celebrate a championship tells you something about his character ?

You are talking about a player who back in his Alabama days went out and saved people during a tornado.

What a bunch of nonsense..

 

[luuked]

Don't be surprised if Atlanta or Green Bay don't grab him even with a first round tender. He is easily worth the 30 or 31st pick in the draft.

Then I say thanks to those two teams for doing the negotiating for the Patriots and just match that offer sheet.

You make it sound like there is nothing BB & co. can do about it. And, no, the deal can't be structured by them in a way where we can't match. We have enough flexibility to match any contract offered.

 

[Snooky97]

i honestly think if the pats offer him 11m, and someone offers 12.5/13m he will stay with us. No need to relocate and the extra money will really not make a huge difference to him. The chance to win the most SB as a linebacker he could easily get there

 

[JMC00]

Two years ago we were wondering who of the Big 3 on defense (Jones, Collins, Hightower) we would be able to keep. We all expected for us to be able to keep 2 at least. But instead we will probably be keeping none!

I don't get it.

Well tell Hightower to come off the notion that he is worth 4 years/$60m.

Collins didn't like the offer from the Pats and basically became a ***** about it and Belichick decided to get a pick a year earlier.

Chandler Jones got high and showed up to a police station the week of a playoff game and was going to be looking for $16-$18m a year.

Absolutely no one can argue with getting rid of Collins and Jones because they went on to win the f**cking SUPERBOWL.

I doubt the Pats have any problem paying Hightower what Collins got but it seems like Hightower is looking for a better deal.

Pats also got dealt a cautionary tell with Jerod Mayo. Gave him 5 years/$48.5m in 2011 and then they got 1 good full year out of him and then he had 2 injury ending seasons and in '15 he just wasn't the player he once was and retired after the season.

and $48.5m in 2011 would be around $60m in today's nfl market.

 

[upstater1]

Butler is the only player on this defense I would hate not to see get paid.

High wants to go to *ahem* greener pastures, then **** him.

His behavior regarding Collins was unbecoming in the first place and while I am thankful to have had him, this is a business, and if he wants to go to a competitor for more money, good for him, but I reiterate:

F*** him.

Huh. You know Bruschi said much more than Hightower in the past, over similar situations. And yet he's considered a consummate Patriots.

 

[Love The Drake]

Yeah **** him and all his contributions because he isn't at a ****ing parade. Who gives a ****.

So you think he can pretend for five years inside the building, through practices and games to be an immense leader and make BB believe that but not showing up to stand around on a ****ing duck boat to celebrate a championship tells you something about his character ?

You are talking about a player who back in his Alabama days save people during a tornado.

What a bunch of nonsense..

Fair points damn man tell me how you really feel.
However you want to pay Hightower Kuechly money?

 

[luuked]

Fair points damn man tell me how you really feel.
However you want to pay Hightower Kuechly money?

Kuechly signed his contract in the fall of 2015. We are now in March 2017 and the cap has grown significantly since then. Contracts for the top players at LB will be higher than what they were back then. The same way that Jeffrey will most probably become the highest paid WR once FA starts even though he is not even close to being a top 5 receiver.

You are making a mistake if you wanna compare the money without taking into considerations that it was under different financial circumstances.

 

[Tony2046]

Two years ago we were wondering who of the Big 3 on defense (Jones, Collins, Hightower) we would be able to keep. We all expected for us to be able to keep 2 at least. But instead we will probably be keeping none!

I don't get it.

I don't get it either but the results speak for themselves.

 

[bormio]

I do think the Patriots are going to try and retain HT, but they are not paying $15 mil per year. They will make an offer after he tests FA. But like with Revis, they are prepared to move on. They love Roberts' motor and they can easily find good pieces for $15 mil. HT is the most complete LB they have, but I think they believe Roberts is still improving a lot.

 

[RobertWeathers]

So they traded Jones because they couldn't afford to pay him, Collins, and Hightower, now it looks like they are going to end up with a late 2nd round pick and two late third round comp picks for three Pro Bowlers. And a giant hole in the defense!

Hightower has earned his money, pay him! Hopefully they let him test the market and match whatever offer he gets.

How do you know they couldn't afford to pay him?

They traded Jones because they felt a 2nd rounder then was better than a 3rd rd comp pick now. Additionally they felt he was not worth $15m.

If he was the second coming of Lawrence Taylor he would still be here.

 

[luuked]

I do think the Patriots are going to try and retain HT, but they are not paying $15 mil per year. They will make an offer after he tests FA. But like with Revis, they are prepared to move on. They love Roberts' motor and they can easily find good pieces for $15 mil. HT is the most complete LB they have, but I think they believe Roberts is still improving a lot.

Roberts is a totally different player than Hightower. We will see if he can make a jump this year to be better than hot garbage in coverage.

The mistake some people are making here is to think that we will reinvest the money saved by Hightower moving on into some kind of FA/trade coup. I wouldn't bank on it at all unless some kind of situation presents itself out of nowhere.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I see that you dislike my post, but I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I didn't say **** him because I dislike him, I'm saying that because I'm a patriots fan and he may no longer be a patriot. I'm a true believer in the slogan we had New England against everyone. So that's what I meant

Respect. I hear you. My rebuttal would be anything can happen and he could be back. We don't know yet. Nonetheless, he should be celebrated by us for what he meant. I think he holds a far greater spot than guys like Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins. If you wanted to say F them, I'd probably be right there with you. One was a half a year player who always disappeared in crunch time and was benched in the 2015 AFCCG. Seriously, did he ever make a big play in a big game in four seasons here? The other is a supremely gifted athlete who tried to leverage stats this season for a bigger contract (one he apparently for elsewhere), which caused him to be grossly out of position and allowing big plays, while reportedly becoming disruptive to the coaching staff. Hence, he was jettisoned.

High, on the other hand, did everything asked of him, often while hurt. In fact, health is the biggest knock against him. Some try to say he doesn't take over games. They say he's unspectacular. Who the F cares? He's almost never out of position, makes sure everyone else is in position (that never shows up on a stay sheet) and makes key plays in the biggest of moments amd games. NE was in the top five rushing D this season. He blitzes effectively when asked and accounted for two safeties in consecutive weeks. What more can you ask of someone? Yeah, he deserves a bit more respect for us, IMHO.

 

[The Gr8est]

Not franchising HT is the kind of move that most teams don't have the guts to do.

I hope we can keep him after he tests the FA market, but the Pats won't break the bank for him.

He will be difficult to replace but BB isn't going to get put in cap hell to do it.

BB is also not going to pay for past performance and Hightower's injury history is not encouraging going forward. He has already missed a lot of practices and games with physical ailments.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

I am holding out hope that hightower lays off the pipe and comes back to his senses. 15 mil per year? WTF. If he was bringing a consistent pass rush than i can see that.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

Not franchising HT is the kind of move that most teams don't have the guts to do.

I hope we can keep him after he tests the FA market, but the Pats won't break the bank for him.

He will be difficult to place but BB isn't going to get put in cap hell to do it.

BB is also not going to pay for past performance and Hightower's injury history is not encouraging going forward. He has already missed a lot of practices and games with physical ailments.

I wanna know the years. A 4 year deal's good to me. I wonder if the pats are offering 3 years.